About FACE
by LR00
Summary: One shots for each member of the FACE family. Might be ooc. Rated T because I am paranoid.
1. Chapter 1: Harsh (England)

Alfred used to be so adorable, Arthur thought to himself as he gazed at the only picture that adorned his work desk. Alfred was on Francis' back, hands clinging to his hair as Francis grimaced and tried to laugh at the same time. Arthur was holding a child who looked remarkably like Alfred, except with longer hair. Alfred's twin, a faint voice at the back of his head whispered. His name was…Mark? Something along those lines, Arthur knew.

Shaking his head, Arthur looked away from the picture and frowned at the set of papers currently sitting on his desk. Arthur could say without any hesitation that his boss was an imbecile. After all, who would wait until work piled up till it could fill up nearly 2 boxes with less than a week to complete it. It certainly did not help that his boss disliked him.

He worked in silence for some time before finally giving up and bashing his head on his work table. There was just far too much to do within such a short time. Looking at the clock, he decided it was time to leave. If he wanted to get drunk with Gilbert and Mathias tonight he would have to hurry. Unlike _some_, he still had to go back to take care of Alfred.

Alfred. He fought more frequently with Alfred, though that was more likely due to Francis staying away as long as he could. Alfred was just so stubborn and…idiotic at times. Alfred could be nice at times, but after a long day at work he was just too much to handle. Dealing with Alfred was something that required a great deal of patience, and that was one thing he definitely did not have after days like these. He still loved Alfred, of course he loved his son, but sometimes he was just a brat. A brat that needed to be dealt with harshly.


	2. Chapter 2: Absent (France)

Francis didn't remember when he had started to come home pretty much just to sleep. Days filled with work, evenings out just walking around, flirting shamelessly, trying to forget what he would be returning to in the end.

Some days Arthur and the boys would already be asleep and he would creep in quietly to sleep. Some days they would still be awake, Arthur shouting at Alfred, Matthew quietly watching, and he would intervene on Alfred's behalf, anything for his son. Occasionally they would just be sitting there and talking, and when Francis walked in it would be just like it used to be. The four of them together, as peaceful and quiet as a family as theirs could be.

But the next morning, he would leave early again, long before the others woke up and things would get worse again.  
Francis supposed it was 'unhealthy' to avoid his family like that, something only cowards did. Maybe if he sat there and waited for Arthur to calm down instead of shouting back, maybe if he listened to both sides of Arthur and Alfred's endless arguments, things would get better. Maybe if he waited for the rest of his family to wake up before leaving, if he talked to them more, things would go back to how they were before. How it was when Arthur and Francis were still very in love with Matthew and Alfred laughing together, Matthew always so much quieter than his brother.

Perhaps it would have helped things to be more involved with his family, like he used to be. It was so much easier though, to stay away from the pain. Absent from their home.


	3. Chapter 3: Freedom (America)

Alfred looked around his new home, the setting sun casting odd shadows all around. The tabletops were bare, the cabinets empty. No pictures hung on the wall, nothing to say that the house was truly his. The house was silent, so unlike his previous one which was filled with shouts and the slamming of doors all day long.

And not just those sounds, not just the ones after Arthur came back in a bad mood, when Francis felt like fighting. There were no curses from the kitchen when Arthur tried and failed yet again to cook a proper meal, no laughter from Francis as he watched his husband struggle. No sounds proving that the house was lived in, that it was indeed a home.

Alfred did not really know how he felt about leaving. Once the adrenaline had left, once he calmed down to actually think, was it worth it? The fights were bad, with Arthur's moods becoming fouler and Francis' absences becoming longer, till he was nothing more than a memory of some relative whom they never truly knew. A father, but not quite.

Leaving the house, shutting the door behind him quietly for once, he had the urge to go back. Something in his mind screamed that he was forgetting something, someone important, someone waiting upstairs in the room next to his. A brother, maybe? It did not matter though, nothing but his escape from that house did. Nothing but his freedom.


	4. Chapter 4: Fade (Canada)

Matthew never knew when it had begun. It was all perfect at first. Sure, a family with two fathers was not exactly the most common, but they were happy. Francis and Arthur fought, of course they did, but it was solved so easily, a kiss on the cheek, or maybe the forehead. They loved Alfred and him pretty much the same, though Alfred was always closer to Arthur and he to Francis.

Matthew could remember days when they went out as a family, when Alfred would run ahead only to return and drag Matthew along with him. Days when Francis would tease Arthur and laugh as he turned red, gazing at his family with a fond expression. Days when there were often sounds apart from shouts of anger and the oppressive silence, the silence that would never leave.

He supposed Alfred's more outgoing personality played a part in it. Matthew was never one to enjoy others attention on him. Alfred on the other hand thrived in the spotlight. And slowly, yet surely, Matthew started to fade into the background. Unnoticeable, stuck in the background, just 2 words scribbled in the margins of someone else's story.

It was little things at first. Arthur would walk into a room and ignore his other son, easily conversing with the rest of his family. Francis would forget to wish Matthew goodnight as he walked up to his bedroom. As Francis began to spend more time out, doing who knew what, as Arthur began to be more frustrated with Francis and Alfred, the faster Matthew faded. He guessed he should have been grateful that he avoided Arthur's ire, but even that would have been preferable to being ignored.

Matthew heard the door click as Alfred closed the door. It was still loud, but for someone who slammed doors as much as Alfred did, it was pretty silent. Matthew waited for a few moments, hoping that maybe Alfred would remember that he forgot something, he forgot his brother. But those moments turned to hours and Alfred never returned, leaving Matthew without even saying goodbye, without even acknowledging his existence. Forgotten, faded away.

**Oops about the html thing, I didn't even realise. I have also just realised how awful this entire thing is but I don't feel like deleting it so.**


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